-564- The short-lived peace

And so, the tumultuous spiritual disaster terror attack event came to a close.

Though turmoil still brewed behind the scenes, at least on the surface, the event had been completely resolved.

Not long after, the citizens of Tokyo returned to their normal lives. Buildings and facilities damaged by the spiritual disasters were under repair, resembling a reconstruction after a disaster. Construction signs were visible everywhere.

In addition, vehicles of the Exorcism Division and Mystical Investigation Officials continued to speed along the roads, busy and joyous in their work.

It was inevitable.

After the event named "Jou-i Saihara," the spiritual veins in Tokyo became even more prone to fluctuations than before. The frequent spiritual disaster occurrences in Tokyo had become even more frequent, making the work of the exorcists more arduous.

While Phase 3 might not occur frequently, Phase 1 and Phase 2 were quite common, leaving no room for complacency among the exorcists.

As for the Mystical Investigation Department, they were still conducting aftermath work for this event. This included searching for the missing Raven's Wing and arresting the Yakou's followers who were operating in the shadows during this event.

It was said that Amami Daizen, the head of the Mystical Investigation Department, was greatly displeased with this event and was preparing for a major operation.

"Not only did the forbidden cursed tools sealed in this hall go missing, but even the Yakou's followers emerged once again to cause spiritual disaster terror attacks. Don't think you can escape after all this, you rascals."

With such thoughts, Amami Daizen almost mobilized the entire Mystical Investigation Department to search all over Tokyo.

Clearly, Yakou's followers, like Mutobe Chihiro, stepping on Dairenji Shidou's footsteps and continuing to incite spiritual disaster terror attacks in Tokyo, had infuriated Amami Daizen. It had also given him a considerable sense of crisis, making it impossible for him to sit idly by and ignore the threat posed by the Yakou's follower.

After all, who could guarantee that there wouldn't be a third person to come out and incite spiritual disaster terror attacks once again?

To prevent such disasters from continuing, a siege against Yakou's followers by the Mystical Investigation Department was inevitable.

In addition to the disappearance of Raven's Wing, various other presences were at work behind the scenes. Amami Daizen, the head of the Mystical Investigation Department, had probably sensed something unusual and was preparing to take preemptive action.

Thanks to this, this operation indeed rooted out many Yakou's follower. It even led to a major purge within the Onmyou Agency, revealing many spies posing as Yakou's followers.

Due to this, exorcists and Mystical Investigation officials were almost everywhere during these days, causing Onmyou Agency's vehicles to roam around the city frantically.

As for the Onmyou Academy, due to the damage caused by Phase 4, classes were currently suspended.

"Now that the advancement exams have ended, let's consider this an early start to the break."

Kurahashi Miyo made this decision, ending the current semester and school year at the Onmyou Academy prematurely, taking advantage of this time to repair the school building.

In other words, Rozen's first-year student life had come to a close in this manner.

When school resumed, Rozen would be a second-year student.

Of course, if he couldn't pass the advancement exams, he wouldn't be able to advance to the second year.

The advancement exams for the first-year students were temporarily interrupted due to the "Jou-i Saihara" event, but the assessment at the Onmyou Academy focuses on the students' overall abilities, not specifically exorcising spiritual disasters. Therefore, judgments could still be made, determining the qualified individuals.

Rozen naturally passed smoothly, and Natsume and Kyouko had no surprises either. The three of them advanced to the second year together.

It's worth mentioning that after this event, many academically inadequate students were affected by miasma, impacting their spiritual aspects. They experienced a downturn in spirits and ultimately led to many students voluntarily withdrawing from the academy.

Most of them were first-year students, causing Rozen to lose quite a few classmates from his batch.

However...

"Normally, after advancing to the second year, most people face a situation where the majority voluntarily withdraw."

Starting from the second year, the students would have more practical courses, and the evaluation gradually shifted from personal qualities to actual abilities. Many students would drop out due to this, leaving behind only the true elites.

Currently, these people were leaving prematurely, but those with real abilities would remain at the Onmyou Academy.

By the way, Rozen heard about this from Natsume after waking up these days.

During these days, Rozen had been organizing the vast knowledge of jujutsu he acquired in his mind. Apart from visiting Natsume and Kyouko every day, he didn't do anything else.

In this situation, about two days later, Natsume and Kyouko woke up successively.

After waking up, Kyouko was directly taken away by Kurahashi family members. Rozen didn't even meet them. Even Natsume had undergone an investigation by the mystical investigators, seemingly questioned thoroughly for their involvement with Raven's Wing.

Naturally, after waking up and learning that they were manipulated, leading to the release of Raven's Wing, Natsume was filled with remorse. But upon learning that the culprit was Hishamaru, a shikigami of the Yakou and a historical guardian, once a part of the Tsuchimikado branch, Natsume became extremely surprised and then fell into a speechless state.

However, after that, for some reason, Natsume developed a serious sense of resistance towards Saotome Suzu. While Rozen continued to organize the knowledge in his mind and practice certain jujutsu, Natsume also put in a lot of effort, constantly having Rozen accompany her in jujutsu battle to hone her skills, fully immersed in it.

Watching Natsume like this, Rozen could only helplessly say,

"I guess it's just her strong-willed nature at play?"

Since Hishamaru was a former shikigami of Yakou, still acting in the shadows for its former master and targeting Rozen as his shikigami, it wasn't surprising that Natsume's resistance was stirred.

Of course, Saotome Suzu was a former branch family member just like Natsume, and Hishamaru was a shikigami of Yakou. Natsume, being the shikigami of Rozen, who was rumored to be a reincarnation of Yakou, and even considered to be Rozen's Hishamaru, finding out about Hishamaru's true identity left Natsume extremely surprised, and she was left speechless once again.

Rozen just hoped that Natsume wouldn't get more intense in odd ways.

In this manner, Rozen finally welcomed a brief moment of peace.

However, it was truly short-lived.

Just when Rozen was immersed in the acquired knowledge of jujutsu and progressing with Natsume, the new academic year had already begun.

However, before that...

"Ugh..."

"Ah..."

In a deserted alley, individuals wearing various uniforms lay on the ground, uttering pained moans.

Rozen and Natsume were each in their own uniforms, standing amidst these people, frowning deeply.

"Hey, Natsume," Rozen asked with a sigh, "how many times is this in the month?"

Upon hearing this, Natsume smiled bitterly.

"It's the twenty-third time this month."

Natsume said so.

Yes.

This month, Rozen had been attacked a total of twenty-three times by Yakou's followers.

The frequency was alarmingly high.